While commenting on Pentagon figures indicating that twenty percent of detainees released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to some level of terrorist activity, White House Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan said:

“People sometimes use that figure, 20 percent, say ‘Oh my goodness, one out of five detainees returned to some type of extremist activity…You know, the American penal system, the recidivism rate is up to something about 50 percent or so, as far as return to crime. Twenty percent isn’t that bad.”

Brennan’s comments reflect the administration’s overall policy to treat terrorism as simply another form of crime. Recidivism rates from the civilian penal system cannot be compared to Guantanamo recidivism rates because terrorism is a unique threat to American national security, quite apart from the threat posed by any common criminal.